Thompson on Hollywood

Sundance May Not Be Big Factor in This Year's Oscar Race

Even with Sony Pictures Classics behind it, Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter, which has earned raves for Michael Shannon, failed to lure audiences this weekend. Hopefully it will build strong word-of-mouth and critics group votes at year's end. But even though Sundance has launched multiple Oscar nominees of late--15 in 2010 alone--will other Sundance fave raves Win Win, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Like Crazy and Another Happy Day meet that same fate?

By Anne Thompson
|
October 10, 2011 2:59 AM
|
1 Comment

More:

The East: Clarkson Set to Join Scripter-Star Marling, Page, Skarsgard in Batmanglij's Eco-Thriller

Zal Batmanglij's The East, written with his Sound of My Voice collaborator/co-writer/producer Brit Marling (clip below), will star Marling and Alexander Skarsgard, and is inches away from casting Ellen Page. The thriller is about a woman (Marling) who works for a firm that is hired by corporations to protect them from big business haters and environmentalist radicals. She must infiltrate one such anarchist group, 'The East,' which is led by Skarsgard. Page, fresh from Woody Allen's Bop Decameron, will play his one-time lover and a member of the group; according to Variety, Felicity Jones was originally attached. UPDATE: Patricia Clarkson and Toby Kebbell join the cast as Marling's boss and “a doctor who was treated with a tainted drug that caused him to have Parkinson’s-like symptoms,” respectively [FSR].

By Anne Thompson and Sophia Savage
|
September 29, 2011 9:12 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Margaret Reviews: A Horrific, Pretentious, Operatic and Remarkable Mess of Movie?

Fox Searchlight finally opens Kenneth Lonergan's six-year-old $12 million Margaret this weekend, but it remains to be seen if it can make it out of the critics' slaughterhouse alive. The Gangs of New York screenwriter's debut as a writer-director, You Can Count on Me, earned two Oscar nominations, for screenplay and actress Laura Linney. But boy did Lonergan hit the sophomore slump, as he became paralyzed trying to cut his second film during an elongated post-production phase that made Terrence Malick look decisive. It's never ideal to take a movie away from a director, but Searchlight and producer Gary Gilbert had to go to court, as Lonergan was literally not cutting it.

By Anne Thompson and Sophia Savage
|
September 29, 2011 6:49 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Box Office Scandal: Circuit Dealing Pervades Small Towns, Flagship vs. Century Theatres

In a David vs. Goliath face-off, indie-owned Flagship Theaters recently won an appeal in its crusade against Cinemark’s Century Theatres. Does the age-old practice of circuit dealing — an unethical way for chain exhibitors to muscle studios — still persist? Anthony D’Alessandro digs further into this taboo topic: What is circuit dealing, exactly? It’s a predatory film booking practice whereby multiplex chains strong-arm studios for product in a specific market. If a studio decides to book with the competition in a given community, usually a Mom-and-Pop venue, then the exhibitor will threaten to bar that film (or future films) from playing the entire chain.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
|
September 27, 2011 11:38 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Descendants, Clooney, Streep Top Gurus 'O Gold Oscar Rankings

The Gurus have spoken. Post-festivals, Alexander Payne's The Descendants (1) has taken over the frontrunner spot from Steven Spielberg's unscreened period war adventure War Horse (2). Interestingly, Spielberg was considering submitting the film to Venice but decided not to do so. He usually likes to wait until the last possible minute to show his films. It's better NOT to be at the head of the pack, anyway. The Descendants' George Clooney (1) is also at the front of the Best Actor race.

By Anne Thompson
|
September 27, 2011 5:10 AM
|
2 Comments

Toronto Wrap: Best of Fest, Oscar Boosts, Winners and Losers

The trick with the fall film festivals is to gauge expectations going in vs. what was actually achieved. Various distributors launched their fall slates, and watched with pleasure or horror at how their movies were received by audiences and critics. Oscar contenders either moved forward in the awards race, or were pushed back. Other indies hoped their films would be picked up by the right distributor in time for this year's Oscar race. Some were, some weren't. It's tough for films that have already debuted at other festivals to pick up new momentum, although the press will bank features for release. The biggest noise goes to the new players, always.

By Anne Thompson
|
September 21, 2011 7:04 AM
|
2 Comments

Telluride Reviews: Payne and Clooney Score Big Wins with The Descendants

Fox Searchlight's first trailer for The Descendants made Alexander Payne's return to the screen, after winning best original screenplay (with Jim Taylor) for 2004's Sideways, look like a well-meaning family drama. It's far more than that. "Alexander should make more movies," said George Clooney at the Telluride patron's brunch Friday. Of course he should, but this is the one he was able to get made, and it's well worth the wait. Clooney wasn't right for Sideways, but wanted to work with Payne, who gave him the script two years ago in Toronto. They were shooting in Hawaii by March. At the Q & A after the rousingly received first public showing at Telluride, Clooney admitted that he "worried about my ability to be such a schlub." While Payne deflected Clooney's compliments--"you write and you direct really well"-- he did admit: "I cast well."

By Anne Thompson
|
September 3, 2011 11:00 AM
|
3 Comments

More:

Join the Hunt for Martha Marcy May Marlene Trailers; Exclusive Preview and Photo

Fox Searchlight is releasing two chilling new trailers for writer-director Sean Durkin's Sundance hit Martha Marcy May Marlene--which will be screened at this fall's Toronto and New York Film Festivals before its opening October 21--but it will be tough to find them. Searchlight isn't presenting these trailers via your standard online portal premiere. Their access codes will be embedded in unusual ways that have not been tried before--keep your eyes peeled Friday.

By Anne Thompson
|
August 18, 2011 4:30 AM
|
2 Comments

More:

Stoker Cast Update: Kidman, Wasikowska, Mulroney & Goode; Shooting in Nashville

You can't go back to Bram Stoker's Dracula too many times, it seems.

By Sophia Savage
|
August 11, 2011 8:36 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Fest Update: J. Edgar, Margaret, Marigold Hotel To Skip Fall Fests, Twixt to Deauville

Clint Eastwood's period biopic J. Edgar (November 9), starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the famed FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, is bypassing the fall fest circuit, according to the Toronto Star's Peter Howell. Eastwood and Warner Bros. decided to take the Lance Black-scripted film, which co-stars Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts and Josh Lucas, straight to the theaters and skip the two fests, which both showed Hereafter last year.